Sunday, June 02, 2013

A few weeks ago, I had a post about the Charles M. Schulz Museum.
Across the street from the museum is the Warm Puppy Cafe where Mr. Schulz had many of his daily meals.

It has a cozy fireplace to keep you warm.

This is the interior of the cafe with an assortment of sandwiches and drinks for a quick meal.
Here's a menu if you are curious.

There is also an ice rink next to the cafe where patrons can watch skaters while they eat. Sorry, I do not have a photograph of that, but outside the rink, you can see Charlie Brown in a hockey outfit.
Mr. Schulz was an avid hockey player and held many hockey tournaments at this rink.

Next to the cafe and ice rink is a huge 2-story Snoopy gift shop.

A few miles away in downtown Santa Rosa, several Peanut characters are on display.
Yes, Mr. Schulz and the Peanuts gang made quite an impact in the area.

Friday, May 31, 2013

This past Monday, we visited the Wings of Freedom Tour to see vintage World War II aircrafts.
The weather was rainy and cold, but that did not stop people from coming to see these restored beauties. Although I did not know how some people were able to stand there for an hour in just shorts and t-shirts waiting in line to get inside to see the bomber's interior.
The aircraft in the foreground is the B-17G Flying Fortress built in 1945 by Boeing/Douglas Aircraft Company in Long Beach, Calfornia.

This is the B-24J Liberator bomber built in 1944 by the Consolidated Aircraft Company in Fort Worth, Texas. Its role in World War II was to fly missions over Europe and the Pacific as a strategic bomber.

Also on display were tanks and even a replica German Scout Car in the 2nd to last photo.
The volunteers dressed up World War II military outfits and the tanks were from the local Military Vehicle Technology Foundation museum which I did not know existed until I saw them there that day.

Sunday, May 26, 2013

On a recent San Francisco walking group meet-up, we passed by a historical building that was known as the Farnsworth's Green Street Lab.
It looks like an ordinary structure although uniquely sits on the foot of a hillside with homes towering overhead and I probably would not have known of its historical significance if not for the marker next to it.

Philo Taylor Farnsworth, a pioneer in electronics, lived and worked at this location where he invented and patented the first operational television system on September 7, 1927.
You can click on the above picture to read the marker.

The lab is now the residence of Ignite Video.
This was posted on their front door.
Do you feel ignited?

When the employees saw us lingering outside, they invited all of us inside to look around.

I like how they decorated their office.

Inside Ignite Video's office is a dedication to Mr. Farnsworth.
You can click on the picture to read it, but if it is too small, you can click here to read his biography from another source.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Several people are interested in seeing the inside of the "Snoopy" museum after my last post so here it is.
When you first walk into the museum, you see a tall ceiling and a huge mural with Peanuts characters.

If you look closer, you will actually see the mural is made up of multiple Peanuts comic strips - 3,588 separate tiles to be specific selected by Yoshiteru Otani.

Another section of the museum are more Peanuts comic strips displayed in glass cases and in poster form.

You can sit on the comfortable sofas and look through scrapbooks kept throughout Mr. Schulz's life.

On the 2nd floor is everything about Mr. Schulz's life from birth to death which you can read about here.

Mr. Schulz's office was moved to the museum. This was where all the magic was created.

This mural was painted by Mr. Schulz in 1951 for his daughter's nursery room at his Colorado home. You can see early signs of the Snoopy and Charlie Brown characters.

This is the life-size Lucy's Psychiatry Booth just like the one in the comic strips.
You can read more about the booth in Wikipedia.

In the back of the museum is the garden setting. I saw birds and various Peanuts characters like the ones below.

Thursday, May 09, 2013

Despite what the weather is outside, if you like the movies and wines, the Francis Ford Coppola Winery, is a good stopping place to enjoy for a few hours during a trip to Northern California's Wine Country in Geyserville about an 1-1/2 hr. drive north of San Francisco.

Except in the winter, you can buy tickets to swim in this 3,600 square feet (334 sq. m) pool during the other seasons.
In the spring, the pool is only open on the weekends; thus, the lack of swimmers on the Monday we visited.

You can lay by the pool and even rent a private cabine to change and shower.

This is what the cabine looks like inside.

Inside is one of several bars where you can sample different Coppola brand wines. We decided on trying the "Family Flight" offerings which gets changed around weekly.
We are not avid wine drinkers, but the 2011 Votre Santé Pinot Noir was my favorite.

(Note: Many of you wanted an update about the ill hummingbird baby we were trying to hand feed. We tried feeding him/her regularly baby bird food because the mama would no longer come by, but after a day or two, he no longer wanted to eat and we decided it was best to turn him over to the local wildlife center for better care. At this point, I am not very hopeful. Like reader/blogger, Jenny Woolf, mentioned "nature is cruel". Thanks everyone for your interest.)